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We Want Her Job! Why Randi Zuckerberg Is the Zuck on Our Radar

Her little brother Mark launched Facebook, but Randi, 30, is the Zuckerberg of the moment, with a new company, a reality show on Bravo and career advice for you.

Randi Zuckerberg is no shrinking violet. At 23, the Harvard psych grad joined the marketing team at the fledgling Facebook, where she soon did all the talking for her famously press-shy brother, Mark. She also fronted an in-house cover band that performed at work functions (Evanescence Essence—here it is on YouTube) and converted a closet in the company’s Palo Alto offices into a TV studio, conducting interviews with celebrities who visited (hey, Katy Perry!) and posting them on Facebook.

But she’s more than a mouthpiece: In 2009 she turned that studio into home base for the runaway success “Facebook Live,” a streaming video platform on which President Obama held a virtual town hall in 2010, and Perry announced her 2011 North American tour to her then 17 million followers. “I thought, If I’m spending one hour a week on this, where could I take it if I did it full-time?” says Zuckerberg. So she left Facebook and created Zuckerberg Media to help clients like Cirque du Soleil maximize social media. Next up is Bravo’s Silicon Valley, a reality show about entrepreneurs trying to make it big, which she’ll executive-produce and, playing against type, not star in. Meantime, her zany antics keep her team (poached from ABC, Disney, and Facebook) laughing. “I wore an evening gown to meet with the accountant,” she says. “Staffers asked why, and I said, ‘It’s my company. I’m going to have fun!’”

Want to be a media guru--and still have that big smile--like Randi Z? Check out her three get-ahead secrets:

Make yourself heard. “Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and I were in a meeting with a world leader, and I was nervous, so I raised my hand to speak. Later, Sheryl told me, ‘Don’t ever ask permission to talk in a meeting. Would your male colleagues do that?’ I never did it again.”

But also try listening! “When I meet superstars, I’m tempted to tell them about myself to stand out. Instead, ask questions and listen. That’s how you make an impression.”

Think twice about answering that late-night email. “If you do, your boss will always expect you to be available. Treat your personal time with respect, and she will too.”